After the glamor of the opening and the controversy over Johnny Depp’s participation, the race for the Palme d’Or award begins at the Cannes Film Festival, with a film by Japanese Kori-Eda, before a work presentation by director Catherine Corsini, sparked controversy over the circumstances of its filming.
On Wednesday, the festival’s jury, headed by Swedish filmmaker Robin Ostlund, enters into the heart of the matter, with one of the permanent guests of the ancient event, the Japanese Hirokazu Kori-eda, who is known for his films charged with emotions and family descriptions. His new movie, “Monster”, is expected to impress festival-goers this year as well.
The Japanese filmmaker won the Palme d’Or award in 2018 for his movie “Shoplifters”, before filming in France the movie “La Verité” “The Truth” with Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, and then in South Korea with the movie “Broker”, which participated in the competition last year.
One of the seven directors participating in the competition this year, Catherine Corsini, follows him with her film “The Return”, about a woman working for a Parisian family who offers to take care of her children during her vacation on the island of Corsica.
The director, who participated in the competition two years ago with her film “La Fractor”, and won the award for best film about the LGBT community, gave the first role in her new film to Aissatou Diallo Sania, an assistant nurse who was discovered by Corsini in her previous film.
However, the late selection of “Le Rotor” was accompanied by controversy that may overshadow the work itself.
Catherine Corsini, known for her feminist stances, denounced in an interview with the French newspaper “Le Monde” what she described as “anti-women’s perspectives” behind the criticisms she received.
And she had previously published, with her producer, Elizabeth Perez, a text in which she supported the young actress, Esther Gohoro, who was 15 and a half years old during filming, expressing her desire to “end the case.”
In the letter, Corsini and Perez said, “No lawsuit has been filed against Catherine Corsini, nor against the film’s producers.”
However, this case raises feminist criticism, in the wake of the controversial return of Johnny Depp and the warm welcome he received on the red carpet at the Cannes Festival.
